Expert: Steven Taylor - 7/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: I'm trying to determine if the following companies are still active:
Hartland MInes LImited (thru Guardian Trust Company Montreal)
Dean Lake Mines (Montreal, thru Guaranty Trust Company).

ANSWER: Eileen, from the information I have available, this is what I found:

Hartland Mine Ltd. had its charter cancelled in 1979. It does not appear there was any value for shareholders.

Dean Lake was voluntarily dissolved in 1978. Shareholders received 9.72 cents cash per share from the sale of the company's assets.

At the time Dean Lake was dissolved, it was not uncommon for the transfer agent to not require the certificate to be returned for the cash distribution - they would just send a check to the holder. Therefore, it is possible that the registered owner (if not you, it would be the name on the certificate# already received the cash. If, however, the agent was not able to find them, the cash would have been turned over to the State or Province in which they were last known to reside. Therefore, I suggest you search the lost property departments of each State or Province in which the registered owner lived from the time the shares were first acquired until the distribution in 1979. You can do that online for many of them for free from either www.missingmoney.com or www.NAUPA.org #each site has different participants). Those that don't participate in either service will have to be contacted directly.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Do you have anything on First Ohio Explorations Inc. (Ontario, thru the National Trust Company)

Thanks again...

Answer
Unfortunately, I have no information on First Ohio. If it was similar to the first two companies and sold by an Ontario Penny Stock Dealer, it was not unusual for those very small and obscure companies of that era to just disappear once the brokerage firm stopped pumping the price up. It was not until later that the shell had some value and the promoters would reverse split the shares, change the name, and try something else.

In this case, I would try contacting Ontario first and see what information they have on the company. You could also try contacting a broker and see if they can perform a more detailed search for you.